The MarriageGoRound
by Isilithix
Summary: When two old allies prepare for war against each other, there is only one thing to do try and stop it. But with what?Political marrriage that's what. It has been decided, Temari will marry Sasuke. However Sasuke leaves Konoha and Naruto is the replacement
1. Chapter 1

Marriage-Go-Round

* * *

Kankuro walked behind his jonin sensei with his head held low. "I can't believe we failed." He mumbled aloud to himself.

"I can't believe that that stupid blonde kid beat Gaara." Kankuro overheard his older sister and teammate, said. She walked behind their sensei and beside Kankuro, as they made their way back towards their home village.

"Shh!" Kankuro hissed at her, earning a slightly startled look from the older girl. Her expression told Kankuro that she wasn't aware that she had been speaking aloud. For his sister not to be paying attention, she must have been in a state of shock. Of course, how could she not be? He was still in a state of shock. The youngest member of their team, and by blood, family, someone who had never been bested in combat, had been defeated while in his most powerful form. "He's right behind us!"

Throwing a quick look over hear shoulders, sure enough, Temari found her and Kankuro's youngest sibling walking a few yards behind them, his black, sleep deprived, eyes looking in front of him, past his two older siblings, trained on the horizon. His face had an unreadable expression on it. There was no way to tell if he had heard her comment. The last thing she wanted to do was irritate her youngest brother. He had a tendency of killing anything that made him irate. Temari, and Kankuro, were sure that if he had been irritated with her, he would have most likely killed her with a smile on his face.

Temari was beginning to worry about her youngest brother. He was only a few yards away, and even though she had whispered the comment about him losing to someone supposedly weaker than him, he should have heard her. Her comment should have made him look at her in the least. It hadn't. In fact, she hadn't even seen him slaughter a single innocent animal since their departure from Konohagakure's lands. The boy loved killing. Killing anyone or anything, and he needed no real reason to do so…as long as it pleased his _mother_. It seemed that he had stopped his long time habit…er, pastime, cold turkey. Being a shinobi…as well as a human, she knew very well that if someone did something out of habit, almost second nature, that if they stopped that habit cold turkey, they usually snapped within a few days and continued their habit. She was worried that they would return to Sunagakure and a few days later, her little brother would snap and go on a murderous rampage.

"Silence you two." The gruff and slightly cold voice reached the two young genins' ears. "We don't want to accidentally let the rest of the village know about Gaara's defeat by a genin with half his ability. Especially when he was under the possession of the Shukaku."

It wasn't exactly a secret about Gaara having the Shukaku sealed within his being, and it definitely wasn't a secret that Gaara was supposed to be Suna's human weapon. However, because of the curse Temari and Kankuro's mother placed on Gaara while he was being brought into this world; Gaara was a nut case, even more so than the last Jinchuriki that Suna made. Because he was a nut case, their father, the Yondaime Kazekage, leader of Suna, and the Village Elders, had arranged for assassins to dispose of their failure. If the Village Elders, or worse, their father, found out that such a weak looking and stupid genin from Konohagakure was able to defeat Gaara, they would stop at nothing to abduct the kid and 

bring him back to Suna and force him to kill Gaara. Despite their blatant and obvious fear of their little brother, neither Temari nor Kankuro wanted to see their little brother beheaded or impaled.

-

For a while, nearly twenty minutes, the group made up of primarily family members walked silently. Other groups of Suna-nin walked and passed them by as the defeated invasion force made their way back home. As the teams passed the quiet team, Baki, the three genins' jonin sensei, overheard something interesting.

"Did you hear?" one member asked another on his team. "The word from our Anbu operatives is that the Sandaime Hokage fell in battle! He lost fighting his old student Orochimaru!"

"Isn't he the Otokage?" the other man asked.

"Yeah." The first said. "I heard that he's real freak! Likes to rip people's skin off and wear it and shit!"

"That reminds me," the third member of the ream started, finally entering the conversation. "What happened to the Kazekage during the battle? He was sitting right next to the Hokage when the plan started. Next thing you know it's the Otokage fighting the old man alone. Where's our Kage?"

That was something Baki had been wondering about as well. He was told specifically by the Yondaime Kazekage to report to him after the invasion, regardless if they won or lost the fight. They had set up a meeting point just for the meeting between them. Baki had been there, but the Kazekage never showed.

'_Was he struck down in battle?'_ Baki asked himself. _'NO!'_ he shook his head quickly after the blasphemes thought that had dared to enter his mind. _'No one in Konohagakure is strong enough to take our Lord down! Even the Sandaime wouldn't have been able to take our lord on in battle!'_

Gaara walked behind his team members. Since his eye opening defeat dealt unto him by the blonde haired, blue eyed Uzumaki Naruto; he had been rethinking his position in life. And so far, it wasn't easy to do. At least not for him.

For his whole entire life, he had never had been loved. His 'real' mother had been sacrificed when he was born, sealing the mind eating Shukaku inside of him. Since before he could even remember, he had been destroying and claiming the lives of others. When he turned six, his uncle; someone who had raised him since his 'Father' wouldn't; tried to kill him in the name of his 'mother', his uncle's sister. He had asked his uncle why he had done what he had done it…and he had learned that his flesh and blood mother had asked him to do so.

From that day on, up until three days ago, he had killed anyone or thing he wanted in the name of his new 'mother'…the Shukaku.

For years, no one had been able to harm him, physically or emotionally. But three days ago, he felt pain again. Uchiha Sasuke, the pride of the Leaf, a brooding, and now clan-less boy, had been able to stab 

through his ultimate defense and as a consequence, was able to injure him. The boy had been the first person in almost six years, to make him gaze upon his own blood.

The older boy was no match against him later on, when the duel in the ring turned into a life or death fight. The pink haired kunoichi who accompanied him wasn't of any help either, in fact, she distracted the raven haired boy. He had played around with the raven haired boy and was about to kill him and the pink haired girl, when yet another person came and stopped him from doing so.

Uzumaki Naruto.

He didn't know why, but during the weak, idiot's match with the male Hyuuga, something made his 'Mother' feel both glee and fear, both at the same time.

He blacked out during part of the fight with the blonde in the forest, but he did wake in time to hear the blonde say that he would kill him if he hurt his 'precious people' again. For the first time since his uncle tried to murder him, Gaara felt fear.

That day was also the first day in years that he acknowledged Kankuro and Temari as his brother and sister. His new relationship with them was odd, but good and he owed it all to the blonde. He would be sure to remember to thank him if he ever met him again.

'_Maybe,'_ Gaara thought, _'having something one wanted to protect _was_ what made a person stronger, rather than revenge or self purpose.'_ Maybe he could even confront his father and ask for his forgiveness…or the opposite…if needed.

The ground covered in rocks, grass and trees slowly started to turn dry, dead and tan. A tell-tale sign that the returning invasion forge was entering , or in the very least, nearing the border's of the Wind Country….and closer to Sunagakure. Home. Even though Suna wasn't as covered in plant life as the Fire Country was, it would still take two to three days worth of travel time before they reached the gates of Suna.

- Time Skip-

Even though the invasion ultimately failed in destroying Konohagakure, spirits were high as the invasion force made its way through the large sandy colored gates of its village. They might have failed to destroy Konohagakure, but they still completed at least two of their objectives, and those were showing the rest of the continent that they helped in taking down the Sandaime Hokage; and showing the rest of the Shinobi Nations that they were still a powerful nation, and that they were not to be underestimated, despite their small size.

However, despite the content feelings amongst the invaders, the Elder's were not so happy.

-

Baki sat in front of the Village Elders with an emotionless face. His mind however, was not as void of emotions as he would have hoped.

The Elders were angry, but not at him, thankfully. As he had feared from the day of the invasion up to now, the village had learned of the Yondaime Kazekage's demise. However, he did not meet his death at the hands of an enemy shinobi but at the hands of their current ally, Orochimaru. It turned out that the person Suna's armies followed into battle was none other than the Hebi-Nuke-nin himself, wearing the pealed skin of their Kage. And if that wasn't enough, reports from old, but still loyal spies had informed them that Konohagakure was readying a massive counter attack force to repay Suna for their deceit and betrayal.

"So," Baki asked after almost ten minutes of silence between the Elders and himself. "What are we going to do about all this?"

"We have sent an envoy to Konohagakure's Council explaining that we were merely following the orders from a man we thought was our Kage. We've also explained that it was Orochimaru who slew and skinned our Kazekage. That should buy us sometime to figure something out." An Elderly man explained to the jonin.

"It may not be the bravest or most honorable thing to have done, but it was the best thing to do at the this time." An Elderly woman said in agreement.

"However," Baki started, "Won't Konoha think that this is a ploy? We just attacked them, breaking our old alliance with them. Wouldn't this just make them extremely wary?"

"Yes it would." Another older woman spoke from her location in the very back of the room. "Which is why we aren't signing it with something as easily broken, ruined or ripped as ink and paper."

"We're going to be using something much stronger than ink." An equally old man spoke next. Baki, along with everyone else in the room knew who those two were. They were the Grand Elders, Chiyo and her brother, Ebizo.

"And if you don't mind me asking Elder's, what is stronger than ink in this kind of alliance?" Baki asked.

"Blood." The two Grand Elders answered in sync.

"That's right." Chiyo said, this time by herself. "We will send one of our own to bind our two villages by marriage."

"Who?" Baki asked, though he had a hunch of whom they were talking about.

**End**

* * *

There you go, chapter one of my first political marriage story. No, I did not get the idea from Agent-G. I actually had the idea written on my profile for a month or two and about three months on a pad of paper.

P.S. Does anyone know what Chiyo's brother's name is? I've spent a fair amount of time re-reading the manga and haven't found it yet. So if you know, please tell me, I don't want to call Chiyo 'Chiyo' and her brother 'and her brother' all the time.

Now, this story will not be updated regularly, I write when I have the free time and urge to write, so please, please don't ask me to hurry up and update. I hate getting reviews and PMs like that. I don't mind that you like the story and that you would like to see it updated so you could continue reading; I just don't want you guys to try and badger me into writing something that may be subpar compared to other chapters/stories that I have written before.

Now, I know some of you will ask about _Bleached Kyuubi_ and _Uzumaki Naruto and the Eye of Truth_ and when I will update them.

_Bleached Kyuubi_ fans, I am sorry, but I was re-reading it and realized that it is sloppy. I can't even think about how to start chapter three in a way that it meshes in with the rest of the story. So, as most of you who have glanced over this small portion of my AN might have figured out, I am re-re-rewriting it. This time I won't post it until I have gotten at least five chapters down on paper and have read it over and over again, until I get it the way I want it to be.

_Uzumaki Naruto and the Eye of Truth_ fans, I will not be continuing this story. If you want to know why, you can go read the last few Naruto manga releases and look at Sasuke's new Sharringan. Yeah, his little conflict with the Kumo-nin who wouldn't tell anyone where the Eight-Tailed Jinchuriki was…Sasuke's little information gathering skill…yeah, that was what I was planning on giving Naruto as a Dojutsu. It would be based around Naruto's bloodline giving him the ability to peer into the mind of criminals…well, anyone when they fear for their lives, enabling Naruto to see the truth amongst other things inside their mind. Kishimoto basically gave Sasuke my idea for Naruto's bloodline as a new 'power-up' for his gay looking Sharringan. That whole chapter killed my muse for this story. So, now you know why…blame Kishimoto, not me.

Anyways, thanks for reading and remember, review if you want to.

Ja!


	2. Chapter 2

Marriage-Go-Round

* * *

"So, just to set this straight, you received a letter addressed to the Council asking for forgiveness from our ex-allies?" an elderly man questioned his fellow elderly peers. Said peers, most of them older than fifty, though some of them were younger, and no one was over sixty-five years old, sat in a triple layered semi-circle, in front of a ten foot tall, thirty foot long desk. Behind the desk sat two elderly people, one man and one woman. In the middle of the two large semi-circles of hard wooden desks, was a one armed man, who leaned on a cane to help stabilize him as he stood in front of the larger semi-circle.

"Yes." A man with long black, slightly graying hair confirmed. "However,"

"However, there is more." Interrupted the elderly woman who sat behind the one armed man. "We also received another letter from Suna, explaining their actions."

"What's more to know?" a large, shaggy haired man asked as he snaked on a bag of chips. "They attacked us and were beaten back. Now that we're planning a counter-strike, they act like the cowards they are and seek forgiveness. Hell, they barely used the word 'Sorry' in their letter stating how sorry they were for back stabbing us!"

The one armed man bowed his head in thought. This was what he would call cowardly indeed. Why would a nation, no matter how small they were in either landmass or army, who had just broken off their previous alliance with the country they had just attacked only to ask for another alliance? In his mind, there were only two reasons why Suna was trying to reform the newly broken alliance. One reason was the fact that they wanted to lure Konohagakure into a sense of false peace and content and then attack them again whilst they slept peacefully in their beds. The second reason was because they knew that they couldn't possibly stand against the massive, vengeance seeking army that Konohagakure would eventually send after them. They were scared that they would be destroyed. Either way, Suna was just trying to save their tanned hides.

"What kind of explanation did those cowards come up with?" the one armed man asked the elderly woman behind him.

"_Feh,_ you'll like this excuse Danzo." The woman sniffed humorously. "They said that they were merely following the orders of the man they thought was the Kage."

"WHAT!?" the roaring voice of Chouza bellowed throughout the chamber, his outburst accompanied by a few other, though comparatively quieter outbursts. "They were following _orders?!"_ the large man stressed, his mouth vacant of any kind of food whatsoever, a clear sign that the man was enraged. "Of the man that they _thought_ was their _Kage? How_ does a whole village, a whole village full of _shinobi,_ go about their daily life without being able to tell if their Kage is actually their Kage? It's beyond me!"

"Chouza." Danzo spoke up; quelling the large man's fit almost instantly as he did so. "I know that most of us in this room are wondering about that very thing, you do not need to be so loud. This room, though large, echoes. I've already lost one arm, and my eyesight isn't what it once was…I would like to keep at least one observation sense." The large man's head fell slightly at his check. "Plus, I would love to find out, as would the rest of the people here, how a village full of shinobi fails to notice an impersonator merely using the image of their leader. Please, continue, Koharu."

"Thank you Danzo." The elderly woman thanked the man. "It says here that were deceived by their ally, Oto, for the invasion. It turns out, or at least that's the story that Suna is sticking to, that Orochimaru slew the Yondaime Kazekage a couple of weeks before the Chunin-Exam finals and peeled the man's skin off and proceeded to use it as a body mask." There were a few indigent sniffs from some of the members of the Council, as if scoffing at the notion of Orochimaru's skills. Danzo, however, was not one of them.

He remembered clearly of the young man's skills and…talents. Peeling the skin of his enemies was something the man had started doing during the First Great Shinobi War. Danzo had little doubt in his mind that the Hebi-Sannin would do such a thing.

"The only thing that makes me believe that Suna is telling us the truth about them following the wrong man into battle; is the fact that Orochimaru has the ability to do just as they proclaimed he can." Danzo stated, reminding some of the younger shinobi and council members of the greatest shinobi from their village to become a Nuke-nin, and his abilities. "Orochimaru has shown time and time again his willingness to kill, cripple or use anything or anyone that stands in his way to his ultimate goal. Immortality. Using Sunagakure's growing discontent for us and our clients, many of whom used to be Suna's clients up until the most recent switching of their Bijuu, the Shukaku. Because of their shinobi's means to get money to support themselves and their families, they were eager to show their old and future employers that they, though smaller than us, are just as capable as us and our shinobi. Orochimaru could have used this to fuel their desire to invade, as a means to gain another step towards his ultimate goal. The Sharringan."

"It would be foolish to…ignore what Suna has to say, especially since they truly believe that they were fooled by Orochimaru. Allying with Suna, yet again, will give us two gravely important advantages over Orochimaru when he comes to collect. One of those advantages if the fact that Sunagakure must know of at least one of Oto's bases or posts lie. The other would be vengeance."

"What do you mean by that?" a slightly tan man asked from the upper most row in the triple bleacher like semi-circle. "By 'vengeance' I mean," the man clarified.

"That's what I'd like to know too." Chouza agreed, again, his mouth void of any food whatsoever.

"It's easy to understand what Danzo-Sama means when he states that Suna would also like to extract revenge upon Orochimaru and Oto." The long haired brunette with slightly graying hairs spoke up. "It means that when it comes time, Suna will most likely aid us in annihilating Orochimaru and Oto for the murder of their Kage. Oto played them for fools, killed their leader and impersonated him for almost a month and a half and they didn't even notice. Oto has tarnished their honor and intelligence. Things like that aren't easily forgotten. Remember Kumogakure after their…_attempted_ kidnapping of my daughter Hinata nine years ago. Their Kage has warped the story so that it looks like we insulted their honor and their intentions. If the Elemental Country's were to fall into war again, Kumo would most likely side with Iwa and what other nations who despise us just to pay us back for the _injustice_ we dealt them nine years ago."

"Very well put, Hiashi-San." Danzo appraised the current head of the Hyuuga clan's Main Branch for his intellect. Seeing the faces on more than half of the Council members in the room, including the two members of the Sandaime's genin team, Danzo continued. "Of course, I am but one person, but I think that we should…take…Suna's offer of alliance. However, we will not be using simple ink and paper drafted documents to seal the deal this time." Every member the Council was looking at him now. "I propose that we make them send one of their own here to Konohagakure and held here for as long as they want the treaty to last. That person, shinobi or non-shinobi, will be no longer able to accept missions, and will be tethered to at least one member of the mainstream society for observation. If the person they send tries anything funny…their actions will be seen as a threat to the treaty and to Konoha and then that person will be immediately executed."

No one in the council chambers spoke, too shaken by the old general's words. They had all heard of similar things happening in other countries, mainly the smaller ones like Tea and Bird, but not in a major village.

For nearly ten minutes no one spoke. No one uttered a sound. No one sighed.

Then finally, Himura, the Sandaime's other genin teammate spoke, breaking the deafening silence.

"It's kind of funny that you said that Danzo-Dono." The elderly man started, earning every one's attention. "Suna has sent us an…unusual ultimatum." That caught the one armed man's attention. Why was the village, the one who had just pleaded for them to forgive them, given them an ultimatum?

"What…kind of…ultimatum, Himura?" Danzo asked slowly.

"Suna has sent yet another letter stating that they do not want to and **will not** sign a treaty with ink and paper, two things they stated are too easily destroyed in a number of manners. If we do not accept their terms, then they will pull out of the treaty talks and war will most likely ensue." Himura stated.

"Then how do they expect us to accept their apology and re-form our alliance with them?" The man with the slightly tanned face asked.

"With…blood." The noise level in the chambers escalated quickly. People were shouting over one another, trying to be heard. Then suddenly,

"ENOUGH!!" the room fell silent instantly, all eyes and heads turned towards the semi-handicapped man standing in the middle of the chamber. "I've already told Chouza that I would like to keep my hearing until the day that I die, and yet you still feel the need to shout and yell." Danzo's words were like ice, cold and sharp. "Now…I presume that there is more than just 'Blood' needed for this alliance of Suna's am I wrong?"

"No, you're not." Himura shook his head slightly as he answered the slightly younger man. "If I may continue, without further interruption I hope…" the council members nodded sheepishly, some member's faces red from embarrassment, Chouza's a beet red color that matched the coloring of a fresh, ripe tomato. "Thank you." Himura stood up from his chair and took a letter, a Suna emblem on the backside, and started to read.

_We the people of Sunagakure are without leader, without Kage, just as you are. Because of this, we will not consent to a _normal_ peace treaty, one signed with ink and paper. Instead, we wish to use something more…resilient, longer lasting; blood._

_We are not asking for a piece of parchment with blood seals attached to a piece of paper, nor are we asking for a treaty to be completely written and signed in fresh blood. We are asking for something…no, demanding, something more resilient._

_Marriage._

_A political marriage between our two villages._

_Respectfully yours,_

_The Elder's of Sunagakure,_

_The Grand Elder's of Sunagakure,_

_Chiyo and Ebizo._

No one in the chamber was expecting something like that, and in fact, most of the people in the chamber were quiet shocked. Konohagakure hadn't had an alliance set up like this in almost eighty years, before Konohagakure was even a planned position on any map.

As the Council members sat there thinking, Danzo couldn't help but smile. Suna had basically fallen into his plan without even having needed to result to force. Because, after all, a political marriage would mean that Suna would have to send one of their own to Konohagakure, and not only would that individual be stuck in Konohagakure for as long as the marriage or alliance lasts; they wouldn't be able to undertake any missions that took place outside the village walls. It was almost too good to be true.

--

In Sunagakure

--

A lone bird flew high up in the sky, soaring over a large circle of sand colored rock. As it made its way over the large rock, it looked down to find a large village sitting in the middle of the large circular rock formation and started its descent.

A lone chunin stood in the aviary coup, where birds came from every direction with letters tied to on their backs. He sighed tiredly as he looked at his feet. Why had he been saddled with the annoying and boring task of watching out for messenger hawks? Why not some genin loser? He nearly jumped out of his skin when a bell rung from behind him. Quickly dipping his hand in his kunai pouch, the man turned around and started to launch the weapon at…a hawk. A hawk with a Konohagakure emblem on the bird's message pouch had landed on a perch and was waiting for him to take the message out of the pouch so it could rest before heading back towards Konohagakure. Hesitantly, the chunin reached for the pouch, half expecting the bird to be some sort of bomb. As his fingers felt the pouch and made sure that nothing seemed or felt off about the pouch, he opened it and took out a regal looking scroll.

_For the Elders only_

The chunin thought about opening the scroll, but a shiver ran down his spine stopping him from doing so. He looked around and found that the hawk had narrowed its sharp, clever eyes on him. It was as if the bird was telling that if he opened the scroll, it would attack him.

The chunin gulped and slowly made his way towards the Village Elder's Chambers.

--

Baki sat in front of the Elders again, this time for reasons he didn't know. He watched as Chiyo and her brother Ebizo, made their way into the room and made their way to their large cushions. From behind her back, Chiyo produced a scroll bearing the emblem of Konohagakure on it with gold coloring. Baki felt his throat dry out almost instantly. He sat there for five minutes, in total silence, waiting for Chiyo to open and read the scroll. Then, as if it was nothing special, Baki found the scroll flying at his head. With his honed instincts, Baki caught the scroll and then looked back at the shriveled old woman who had tossed it at him.

She nodded slowly, giving him the okay to open and read the contents of the scroll. Obviously they had read it already.

_We, the Council of Konohagakure herby_

**End**

* * *

No, the page did not get cut off, and no, that wasn't a mistake, I wanted it to end like that. Ain't I a stinker? _(The immortal words of my favorite 'wascally' rabbit, if you know who I'm talking about, then give yourself a high-five and then give me a twenty dollar bill, just kidding.)_

I'd like to thank those of you who read my story and _patiently_ awaited my update. Like I said last chapter, I **DO NOT** like the reviews that have no mentioning of whether or not you liked the story and only tell me to hurry up with the next chapter. I work six days a week and I am tired when I get home, I only write little bits of my stories at a time now and telling me to hurry up will **NOT** get you a faster update. This goes for everyone who reads any of my fics, not just one person and one story. And for your information, planning this story out so that the chapters at least fit together is not a cake walk. I scrapped four chapters to come up with this chapter, even going so far as to rip up my notebook (pen and paper) copy.

I would like to personally thank **GreenSpudMonkey** for finding the name of Chiyo's brother and telling me. From the depths of my mind, I thank you. Not knowing his name was somewhat disconcerting to me.

Anyways, the next chapter will take some TIME. Please give me the TIME I need to work on it, okay?

The next chapter will contain the Council's response and maybe, just maybe, a certain blonde's reaction to this whole mess.

Thanks for reading, review if you wish and good day, night, afternoon, week, month or year!

Ja!


	3. Chapter 3

Marriage-Go-Round

* * *

_We, the Council of Konohagakure herby accept your proposal of a political alliance. As you stated in your plea, you believe that an alliance drawn up on paper and signed in ink is easily ruined or destroyed. We here in the Leaf also believe that such alliances are not only easily destroyed, but forgotten. Having a political marriage might save us from such turmoil in the future._

_Although it is highly unlikely uncommon for the victimized nation to do so, we are willing to allow you to pick you own candidate. We eagerly await your response with your candidate's name. Once your letter has arrived and we have looked over it, we will choose our candidate. After we decide who our candidate will be, we will inform you of whom it will be, as well as deciding when we will solidify our alliance._

_Sincerely,_

_The Council of Konohagakure_

--

"So," Baki started, lowering the letter from in front of his face, looking at the Elders who sat in front of him. "Have you changed your mind as to who will be Suna's candidate in this ordeal?"

"No." Nobuyuki, a shriveled old man answered the younger man. "We have not."

"Temari will be out candidate. There isn't anyone better to choose from." Ebizo said, taking over the conversation as he did so. "She has a cool head, knows when to listen and follows orders to the letter. Not to mention that she is strong, brave and highly intelligent. She will not allow herself to be intimidated by the shinobi of Konoha."

"Or their Council." Ebizo's sister added with a scoff like grunt.

Baki wanted to deny the statements that the Grand Elder had listed off about his only female student. However, he knew that the man's words were true. Sighing, he nodded. "When would you like me to tell her?"

"You have no need to worry yourself of the matter of informing her, Baki. We will do so ourselves within the next few days." Elder Jin told the jonin. "If you have no further questions for us, Baki, you may take your leave." Baki nodded somewhat reluctantly, but conceded. He bowed deeply, and backed out of the Elders Chambers.

--

It was a rather sunny day in the rebuilding village of Konohagakure. Soun Mitsunari sighed as he made his way back towards the aviary. Why was a man of his stature, a chunin ranked shinobi, stuck watching for incoming courier birds he would never know. He could be doing what his friends and teammates were doing. Preparing for war. He growled at the thought of Konoha's one time ally, now backstabbing traitorous enemy, Suna. He, like a lot of people, had lost something during the invasion. His younger sister Ina.

Ina was, or rather, had been a third year genin.

She had graduated from the academy somewhere in the middle of her class and had yet to make it to the Chunin Exams. Her sensei, who had been lost to a Nuke-nin last year, had thought of her as a burden who would only weight her team down in the Exams.

She, like most genin ranked shinobi, were sent to make sure that the normal day folk, the civilians of Konohagakure and from surrounding territories, were safe from attack during the invasion. She was helping a young mother with child, to one of the emergency bunkers in Konoha, when a Suna-nin stuck his tanto through her abdomen. The report stated that she had died within moments after the attack.

He slammed his fists on the wall of the aviary, making cracks form in the wall.

'_I swear that if I see a Suna shinobi anywhere near Konohagakure again, no matter who they are, I _will _kill them!'_

The familiar sound of a hawk screeching through the air as it made it was towards the coup broke the man from his dark, brooding thoughts. Taking a pair of binoculars, Mitsunari looked for the bird that had let out the arrival warning. Scanning the afternoon sky, Mitsunari spotted a hawk making its way towards the aviary. He watched it drop in altitude and slow in speed as it came in low. Then, as the bird twisted its body to adjust itself for perching, Mitsunari spotted something that made his blood boil. On the letter carrier tied to the bird's back, was a bronze emblem.

The emblem of Sunagakure.

'_Why in the world would Suna be sending a message to the Council?'_ the young man asked himself.

--

He walked slowly around his apartment, stumbling over his feet as he did so. Catching himself as he fell, sending a spoon and a bowl into the air as he did so. He made no move to catch the them. As the bowl smashed into pieces as if hit the hard wood floor, he sat down at the table, and then laid his head down on the dusty table.

'_Why?'_ he asked himself, _'Why did you have to go and die?'_ It wasn't the first time since the combined forces of Oto and Suna were pushed back he had asked himself. He wasn't one to brood over anything for very long. This time, however, he couldn't help it.

For the first time in his life, he, Uzumaki Naruto, had lost a precious person. And unlike when he was in Wave, where the Kyuubi overshadowed him for lack of better terminology, when he thought that Sasuke had died at Haku's hands; his precious person did not get back up. The Old Man, known throughout Konohagakure as the Sandaime Hokage, but more commonly known to him as 'Jiji', was dead. His life given to try and stop Orochimaru.

'_Unfortunately,' _Naruto told himself, _'his sacrifice was in vein.'_

"Not quite, Brat." The sudden interruption of his mental broodings by an outside voice did nothing to get the blonde to act any different than he had been for the last few days.

"What do you want Jiraya?" the normally cheerful blonde asked the owner of the interrupting voice. A tall man with long graying-white hair stepped towards the blonde from his left.

"You know, if I had wanted to, I could have killed you." The man said dully. The man frowned when he realized that his words had little or no effect on the blonde in front of him. "Alright," Jiraya grounded out. "I am tired of your attitude. He kicked the chair out from under the blonde, making the boy smack his chin off the table and fall on to his rear. "Get ready."

The sudden infliction of pain seemed to break the blonde out of his brooding mood for a moment as he nursed his injured chin. "I-I-I-Itai!" the blonde groaned as he rubbed his pounding chin, sucking in large amounts of air as he did so, seething in pain. He turned his head towards the tall white haired aggressor and narrowed his eyes at the man. "Get ready…for what?"

Jiraya sighed and smacked his forehead with an open palm. "For a mission of course! Why else would I, the Great Perverted Hermit Jiraya, be here talking to you? It surely isn't to get you to stop sulking."

"Why not?" the blonde asked. "Kakashi-Sensei tried to, as did Iruka-Sensei and Sakura."

'_Hmm…from what I learned from Ebisu, Sakura is supposedly the girl the brat here chases after and Iruka is almost a brother figure to the boy. If he didn't listen to either of them…Damn, maybe it's a good thing I'm taking him with me to search for Tsunade.'_ "Well, let me put it this way. You can stay here and feel sorry for yourself, sulk and help clean up the village…Or, you can come with me and help me search for our new Hokage." Jiraya swore he almost heard the boy's eyelids rip open as the boy's eyes became as large as dinner plates.

"_What?" _

"Kid, you don't have to shout. Besides myself, you're the only one here." Jiraya said, though it was obvious that the blonde boy didn't hear him.

"A new Hokage?!" Naruto shouted again, making Jiraya cringe. "Why? It's too soon! Jiji hasn't even been gone a month yet!"

"Naruto." Jiraya started, earning the boy's attention. "In most cases, a new Hokage is picked a few days after the previous one dies. The only reason why we haven't picked a new on yet, is because of the ongoing conflict with Suna."

"Grrr!" Okay, so maybe mentioning Suna was a bad idea, Jiraya thought as he swore he saw the blue eyed boy's eyes turn red for a split second.

"Anyways, I've been ordered to go, find, and try to bring our new Hokage back here to Konohagakure. I was told to take someone with me. Do you know who the Council told me to take with me on this mission?" Jiraya asked, hoping to use the blonde's rivalry with his teammate to his advantage.

"A group of Hunter-nin?"

Okay, maybe he wasn't as stupid as he thought the boy was.

"Nope." Jiraya answered, earning a look from the boy in front of him. "Uchiha Sasuke." The boy nearly jumped out of his jumpsuit.

"WHAT!!"

"Yep." Jiraya said, forgiving the blonde for his outburst, he did after all, earn it. "I managed to persuade them to let me take you instead. At first they said 'No', but I wore them down after a bit." Jiraya explained. "But, if we aren't out of here by night fall, the Council will force you to stay here, while I take Sasuke with me, and maybe…teach him something…powerful."

"A new jutsu?" Jiraya nodded. "Then sign me up! I can't let Sasuke get one up on me with that Chidori Kakashi-Sensei taught him!" that got the Gama-Sannin's attention. What was the only surviving student from his late pupil's favorite team doing teaching such an unstable boy such a powerful jutsu? "Just wait a moment Ero-Sannin! I'll be ready to leave in ten minutes! Just you watch!"

--

Danzo watched the duo leaving the village with a frown on his face. He knew whom the Council had picked as Subaku no Temari's husband-to-be. In one way, he was happy that the Jinchuriki wasn't it, but in a way he wasn't. For years, he had wanting to assert control over the boy. It would be so much easier to do so with a hostage of sorts.

Who knew, maybe something in the future would change that? He would just have to wait and see what happened. After all, a good shinobi waited until it was the perfect time to strike. And he was, of course, the 'perfect' shinobi.

END

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Here you go, chapter 3. I hope you had an enjoyable time reading my mess (hehe). Review if you like, it isn't an obligation like it is(used to be) is for other fics. Oh, and don't forget, this is a double update. Have fun with chapter 4!

Ja Ne.


	4. Chapter 4

The Marriage-Go-Round

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Happy birthday Naruto! Happy two year anniversary to me! That's right, my second year on FFNet! WEEEE!

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Eight O'clock in the morning, and already ninety-five degrees F; and it would only get hotter as the day grew longer. That was one of the downsides of living in Sunagakure, especially for someone who decided that she needed to train more in case her village went to war with their old allies. It was too hot to go outside and train, so, to improvise, Subaku no Temari moved to her villa's basement. While her family's villa wasn't as large as some of the buildings she had seen while she was in Konohagakure during the Chunin Exams, her house had enough space for a small pool in the basement along with a kunai/shuriken target range and its own personal cell block, for housing nuke-nin so when Gaara had his mood swings, he could kill someone who wasn't part of the village. Though that rarely stopped him from killing fellow Suna shinobi; now a days, well at least since they had fled from Konohagakure, the cell only housed dust and household extras that didn't have a place in the rest of the house.

Currently, Temari was looking at the inside of her eyelids, trying to meditate, all the while expanding her chakra reserves by sitting on the small pool of water. All though she was trying to meditate, her mind was restless.

Three weeks. That's how long it had been since she and the rest of the invasion force had returned home, and she had yet to smell or hear her youngest brother's latest victims. She was beginning to go mad. Even though he was her brother and she was supposed to trust him, he had been a murdering psycho not even a month ago. It was hard to believe that he had stopped killing for the sake of his 'mother'.

'_Kaasan.'_ The sand colored blonde thought as she sat on top of the cool pool of water. _'Tousan.'_ Her face contorted into a scowl. While she thought about her mother a lot, mainly remembering the beautiful woman she once looked up to with small but happy smiles; she thought of her father as only as her now late Kazekage. Her mother had been a diamond in the rough, a jewel amongst the sands, the needle in a haystack; her father had been a monster, the cobra that wrapped itself around the jewel in the sand and lashed out at anyone who dared to take it. Or, that was what she used to think about the man. Now that he was dead…she just felt two things about the man who had sired her and her siblings into this world. Pity and hatred.

She pitied him, his whole life had been a hardship, coming in from a small village near the Suna/Iwa border and moving here during the Second Great Shinobi War. Because he came from such a village, he was picked on and in time, bullied. Even as a shinobi he wasn't very well liked by his peers. Because of his upbringing, he had no real love for his village. So, when he was offered the position as Kazekage, he only agreed because he want power; the power to order and seek revenge the people who used to pick on him when he was a child. How he met her mother, Temari didn't know, he mother didn't say and her father wouldn't; but she presumed that it had happened during one of his 'weeding' assignments he had given certain groups of Suna-nin and well paid Nuke-nins. He had gone on a few of his 'weeding' assignments for the sick enjoyment of revenge, and then one day, he came back with a prize. Their mother.

She felt the bottom of her war outfit begin to soak, as her control slipped, letting her rear slip underneath the top of the water pool. With a frown, she corrected herself and readjusted her chakra and stopped where she had been before, just above the waves.

'_It's been a while since the village heard anything about the situation with Konohagakure. I wonder what's going on?'_ she wondered to herself, trying to move away from thoughts about her father and his 'legacy'. Thinking about her father and his achievements always made her frustrated; and even though the thought of war didn't really sit well with her, almost anything would be better than thinking of her father. _'And Baki-Sensei hasn't been around for a while…I wonder what he's been up to.'_ She and her siblings hadn't had a mission since they returned from Konohagakure, and frankly, she was bored. Nothing said dangerous like a bored shinobi.

With a sigh, the sand blonde teen shook her head and tried to get back to her meditation. However, before she was able to do so, there was a loud clanging sound that rang through out the basement and made her eyes shoot open like someone had touched her rear end in a packed street. Her concentration broken, she lost her nerve and fell through the thin layer of chakra she had been using to cushion herself, keeping her out of water and became a very wet, and pissed off young woman.

Whoever had made that noise was going to feel the wrath of a woman scorned. And even though she was young, she considered herself as an adult.

As she shook the water off her face and head, Temari opened her eyes and looked around the basement, looking for the cause of the loud, concentration, breaking noise. At first, she had expected to see her younger brother, Kankuro standing somewhere near the target range with a kunai in his hand and a smirk on his face; but soon found herself surrounded by three Anbu operatives.

"Subaku no Temari," the team leader began, holding out a hand for the fallen, soaked kunoichi, "we have been ordered to escort you to the Elders Chambers."

"B-But!" Temari stuttered, her anger quickly resolving at the sight of the three obviously stronger shinobi in front of her. "I'm soaked! Can't I get a new battle dress and dry off first?"

"No, our orders were to bring you as soon as possible. Waiting for you to dry and change will not be 'as soon as possible'. Besides, the heat will dry your clothes as we walk." The leader answered. With a frustrated sigh, the blonde took the Anbu's hand and allowed herself to be pulled up and out of the water followed the three man team towards the stairs. As the group left the basement of the villa, Kankuro stepped out from behind a large, human-sized target and wiped off his brow.

If those Anbu hadn't showed up when they did, he was sure he would have been turned into paste.

--

Temari idly wonder why the Elders sent a team of Anbu to bring her to their chambers. Was there worry that someone from Konohagakure or Otogakure would attack her? _'Or,'_ she thought to herself as she followed the team of Anbu over the roofs tops towards the Kazekage Tower; _' Did they find out about the kid who beat Gaara?'_ she then started to worry about what the Elders would do to her if that was the reason she was being escorted to the tower.

'_But, how would they have found out? I didn't tell, Gaara sure as heck wouldn't tell anybody. Baki wouldn't tell unless he was ordered to do so, and that would require a hunch of some sort; and I'm pretty sure that Kankuro wouldn't have let that slip.'_ He was, after all, the one who had caught her mumbling about their younger brother's defeat on their way back from…Konoha. _'Oh no!'_ the blonde cursed herself as she remembered the incident. _'Did someone passing by us hear me!?'_

Temari was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she failed to realize that she had followed the team of Anbu into the Kazekage Tower, and was no standing in front of the door to the Elders Chambers.

'_I need to think of something fast!'_ Temari told herself, not realizing that the door in front of her had been opened by one of the members on the Anbu team. _'Come on Temari, think! Think of something!'_

"-emari."

'_Come on! You're one of the smartest people in Suna, think of something!'_

"-mari-San."

'_This is a matter of life and death! Think of something damn it!'_

"TEMARI-SAN!"

The distressed blonde was snapped from her thoughts and snapped her head up and found herself looking directly at the village's oldest and best shinobi, including the Grand Elders Ebizo and Chiyo. Some of the Elders looked slightly ticked, presumably because she had left out such an important piece of information when the Invasion Force debriefed. She did what any teen in her position would do. She gulped. Audibly.

Hearing the gulp escape from the sand blonde teen, some of the Elders looked at each other briefly before turning back towards the girl in front of them.

Chiyo watched the other Elders before looking at the frightened girl in front of them. She narrowed her already narrowed eyes, something was wrong. Temari had been of the Elders many times before and didn't show her fear, if she had feared them at all. _'Why,'_ the old woman asked herself as she studied the girl; _'is she so afraid?'_ Had Baki let something slip about her village saving future by accident?

For nearly five minutes, no one spoke, just stood/sat there in complete silence. Then, finally, Ebizo, broke the deafening silence.

"Subaku no Temari…how are you Dear?" the Grand Elder asked the girl in front of him. Seeing how shaky she was, he thought that it would be best if he 'broke' the 'ice' first, to calm her a bit.

"F-Fine." Temari replied. _'Damn! I stuttered!'_ she mentally reprimanded herself for her screw up.

"Still sad about your father's passing perhaps?" Ebizo asked, knowing that the girl disliked her father.

"No, not really." Temari answered truthfully.

"Then why, my Dear, are you shaking like a leaf?" Temari couldn't think of anything to say in response. It wasn't that she couldn't lie, it was because, at the moment, she couldn't come up with anything that may have her shaking like she was other than fearing for her brother's life.

"Well," Ebizo stated, not caring that the teen hadn't answered his question. "Let's get down to business then." His tone changed from one that someone could easily mistake for a grandfatherly tone, to one that meant business. "Do you know why we called for you?"

'_Because you found out about the blonde kid Konoha-nin who stopped Shukaku-possessed-Gaara.'_ Is what Temari was thinking, but because she wanted to make it seem like she didn't know about it, she shook her head. "No, Elder Ebizo, I don't know why you called for me."

"We called you here because we need your help." The Elderly man started, gaining the still shivering genin's full attention. "We need you to help us settle our current situation with our former ally, Konohagakure."

Chiyo watched the younger female blink in confusion before realizing what her brother had just told her. Somehow, the old woman could tell that what her brother had told her was not what the blonde had been expecting him to say.

Just like before, when the girl had entered the room, the Chamber had gone silent. Elder Jin, a man who used to have a lot of patience when he was younger, broke the silence with a question.

"Did you understand what that implies, Temari-San?" As expected, the girl shook her head. "What Grand Elder Ebizo means is, that-"

"That you have been chosen to mend our alliance with Konohagakure." Chiyo interrupted Elder Jin, who shot her an annoyed look, one that the old woman ignored.

"H-How?" the teen asked, just as Chiyo had expected her to do. "H-How can I help you settle things with Konoha?" why would a village, an enemy village at that, listen to her, a mere genin?

"You will help us settle our current predicament with Konohagakure, by joining in a personal alliance with one of their own." Chiyo explained, not missing the shocked look on the girls face. "You understand what that means right?" the girl slowly shook her head. "We, the Elders of Sunagakure have sent a plea to Konohagakure's Council, explaining what happened to our Kage, your father. Normally, such an act would be over looked by a village, however, because Orochimaru is Konohagakure's main enemy at the moment for killing their Sandaime Hokage; they accepted our plea for a…Political Marriage."

"W-What?"

End

Well, there you have it, chapter 4.

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I don't have much to say other than hope you had fun reading and review if you want. Oh! And I will be gone for the next nine days on vacation…so…please don't ask for any updates between now and the 19th because I won't be working on anything other than relaxing.


	5. Chapter 5

The Marriage-Go-Round

Authors Note

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Hey there people, just thought I'd let you know that even though I'm back, I won't be updating this story for a while. The reason? Because I haven't been able to do anything with my laptop for a while, and I didn't write anything down on paper to refresh my memory(I know, my bad); I have gotten a case of writer's block. At least when it comes to this story.

But so I won't leave you all with nothing to read, I want to let you know, just in case none of you read my latest one-shot or checked my profile lately; I am writing a new story called _Black Cat_. Despite its name, it doesn't involve the manga/anime _Black Cat_ in any way shape or form. Writer's block hasn't grasped a hold on that story yet, and I hope to make sure that it doesn't for a while, which is why starting today, I am going to be typing it up and hopefully getting the first chapter up by sometime next week.

Don't worry about me forgetting about _The Marriage-Go-Round_, **I won't**. And hopefully here in a few weeks, I'll be rid of my writer's block and pen up a chapter for you all to read.

Thanks for understanding,

Ja.

Death's Spear


	6. Chapter 6

Authors note

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I know that I am not supposed to do this, but I thought you should know.

Alright people, I know I haven't updated for a while and I am sorry. I have multiple cases of writer's block, two new ideas for stories, both of which are comedy and a lot of stress. I have had troubles at work, I have been suspected of stealing almost 90 dollars from the cash register; and although it has been settled, it has still placed a crap load of stress on my shoulders. And…

My car has basically broken down. The power steering went out, almost causing me to crash into a car less than a foot away from my front bumper. It has transmission trouble and holes in some of the hoses in the engine. Triple A came and towed my car to the dealer, but the guy who towed it never told the workers that it was there. He dropped it off in the parking lot, stuck the keys on the front seat and left the door unlocked and left.

But that isn't all. You know what they say right? When it rains, it pours; well, it definitely poured.

I am on FaceBook, mainly to talk to old friends I haven't seen or talked to in almost four or five years, when my laptop contracted a virus. Or two….make that like ten. Anyways, every time I logged on the net, I was immediately kicked off, and had my access code and service changed instantly by one of the viruses. So, to avoid going to BestBuy and Geek Squad; my brother-in-law and I restarted my laptop, erased everything that was placed on my laptop except for what originally came installed on it. So…

That's right, all of my stories and my notes have been erased. It's been hell trying to remember what I had written for Black Cat and TMGR. I had three thousand words down for one of my comedy stories, but it too is gone.

So, in the end, I guess what I am saying, is that it will take a while for me to write anything for Black Cat and TMGR at the moment. The comedy story I had started to write will probably come along well, and the other one I just thought of yesterday. These two will probably be up sometime soon to take the place of Black Cat and TMGR for now. I will continue to work on said stories, but it will take some time.

Sorry for the let down, it's been a bummer for me too.

Death's Spear


End file.
